Ah yes, I’ve been away again. I’ve been overwhelmed with genealogy goodness this summer. This time, more Plenzler researchers, actually a married couple, digging into the depths of Plenzler history have aided. Jim Sobieski, and his wife, Cinny have been researching their branch of the family and have happily shared their mother lode. So, I have a treasure chest of LDS scans to pour through, and for me, it’s slow going but valuable information.

Information I’ve received from Jim and Cinny include the birth record for my great-great grandmother, Marianna Lesiecka, wife of Joseph Plenzler. She was born 11 September 1825, and the birth/baptism was recorded in the parish in Wiorek. See snippet below. Click it to enlarge.

Marianna Leseicka birth record from parish in Wiorek, 11 September 1825

Looking at the record, we now know Marianna’s father was Adalbertus (Adalberti in Latin) and Barbara. However, I cannot read Barbara’s maiden name easily to transcribe. Also, Marianna’s godparents appear to be Ignatius Leseicka and Marianna Heigelmann. I’ve highlighted Barbara’s maiden name and part of the godparents’ name. Perhaps someone can take a stab with the transcriptions, I give up on Barbara’s maiden name and there seems to be a phrase I am unfamiliar with after Ignatius’ name, nor am I certain of the last name of the godmother.

The phrase behind Ignatius’ name appears to be “ovilis,” Latin for “sheepfold” (according to William Whitaker’s Latin translator). I am puzzled by this phrase, perhaps because I was hoping it would indicate the exact relationship of Ignatius to the family. However, this could be interpreted as he is only a member of the parish. I have never seen this phrase prior in a church record. It would be interesting to learn what this phrase indicates.

On the same page for the birth record of Marianna, I noticed an interesting entry. I believe Wiorek must have been a very small village. There is a birth record for a child named Andreas Hirsch, born 31 August 1825. What makes this record interesting are several things, and not all are apparent.

Andreas is the son of Joannes Hirsch and Marianna Aumiller.

Here is the snippet for Andreas Hirsch. Again, click to enlarge.

Andreas Hirsch birth/baptism record, Wiorek 31 August 1825

The first two items of interest are apparent — the name of Marianna Aumiller. Eva Dauer’s mother’s name was Maria Aumiller. I do not know if this is Eva’s mother; however, Eva married the son of Marianna Lesiecka and Joseph Plenzler. Also, in this record the name Plenzler is mentioned as a godparent to Andreas. I cannot transcribe the first name.

What is not apparent in this record, and I neglected to highlight it, is the name, Andreas Krych. It appears in this record, the child’s lineage is noted and Andreas Krych is his grandfather, the father of Marianna Aumiller.

Additionally, I have not mentioned this previously, but through Jim and Cinny’s research, I have come to believe that my great-grandfather, Joseph Plenzler had a brother named Bartholomeus. Bartholomeus married a Barbara Hirsch. in the future, I’ll post a bit on this Bartholomeus.

Nomen, praenomen et cognomen sacro ritu coniunctorum. Sedes conditio et professio, et nomen benedictio sacerdotalis en ecclesia vel domi peracta sit. The names/personal names and family names of those who wish to be joined in the sacred right of marriage before this church.
Michael Mrók, Juvenis Michael Mrók, the young man
et and
Marianna Lisieka, Virgo Margaretha Plenzler, the maiden
ambo de Wiorek both of Wiorek

Utrum iam prius conjugum iniverint, nec non utrum ad hue sub potestate parentum vel tutorum sint. They are to put aside earlier times to undertake a life of husband and wife to protect and defend

Aetas ages
Sponsi: 20 Groom, 20
Sponsae: 15 Bride, 15

Religio sponsi, sponsae Cath. Religion of the bridge and groom is Catholic

It appears that Margaretha’s uncle, Andreas witnessed the marriage. I do not know who Joseph Demel is, another clue to follow later since generally it was a blood relative who witnessed marriages. Unfortunately, no real new knowledge about the family from this record it seems!

This weekend, I was excited because I finally received the marriage records from Poznan, Poland for my great-grandparents and great-great grandparent: Eva Dauer and John Plenzler, and Andreas Dauer and Maria Aumiller (Eva’s parents), and for Joseph Plenzler and Mary Leiseick (John’s parents). I also received another Plenzler marriage record, one for Margaretha Plenzler and Michael Mruk (daughter of John Pleznler and Mary Leiseicka, my great-grandparents). These will be transcribed and I’ll get to posting more about Plenzlers in the near future.

I thought the Plenzlers were prolific–every time I seemed to have located one, another two popped up.

The Przybylskis are outdoing the Plenzlers. For sometime, I had reason to suspect that Frances and Andrew had more children than were documented here. John Plenzler had told me a few times that there were two other brothers: John and Joseph. However, I have not found records or any hints of these two until recently. Additionally, another sibling appears while I was looking for John and Joseph: Marianna.

I located Marianna while searching for any marriage records I could through St. Anthony’s Parish. I was actually looking to see if I could locate records for John or Joseph–typically, it seems as if the clan remained together and migrated together and stayed together so it made sense to see if they married in the neighborhood. Lo and behold. I didn’t find any marriage records for John or Joseph, but I did locate a marriage record for Marianna, who married Joseph Ertman.

I have not completely transcribe this record (it’s written in Latin and I’m very, very rusty with what little Latin I know); however, it’s clear to see that Marianna was the daughter of Andreas Przybylski and Francisca Rochowiak. Additionally, the marriage was witnessed and signed by Frank Przybylski.

A bit more research led me to locate the Ertman family on the 1910 census, where they were living at 1610 Vance Street. Many of the Przybylskis resided on Vance.

I did find some trace of John Przybylski. John Plenzler told me that he had changed his name and left the area to live in Miami, Florida to captain a fishing boat. The story goes he was running away from a gang. The names John Przybylski used were John Seblaski and Johnnie Bear. So, I managed to find two census records for John Seblaski: one in 1920 in Detroit, Michigan and another in a 1945 Florida census. The Florida census data does reflect that John Seblaski is a boat captain.

I also reviewed some of Andrew Przybylski’s data just to see if there were more clues about his children. I have little data on Andrew; however, there is a hint. Andrew was listed in the 1892-1893 Polk directory for Toledo. That same directory reflects a Joseph Przybylski, who resides on Blum Street. More research needed!

I also located data for John Przybylski. The 1900 census and the 1920 census both reflect him living at 1461 Vance Street with his wife, Teckla Mruk, and their family.

Now, a lot of this doesn’t quite add up, though. Per Frances’ and Andrew’s marriage record from Chometowo, and the marriage abstract from the Pozan Project website, Andrew and Frances were married in 1873. Marianna was born in 1875. It’s possible one other child was born prior to Marianna. However, John’s estimated birthdate is 1869. If Frances were born on the date as stated in her death certificate, September 8, 1859–she would have been only 10 years old. That’s not really quite possible, she would not have been of childbearing age. However, her marriage record of 1873 states that she is about 26, meaning she would have been born about 1847.

More mystery, more intrigue. Does this imply that perhaps Andrew was widowed and previously married? Does this imply a Polish shot gun wedding? Does this imply that perhaps Frances ran away to marry (that perhaps the age on the marriage record is inaccurate)? We may never know! And more research is needed on John, Joseph, and Marianna!

Joseph and Eva were my mother’s paternal grandparents, my great-grandparents. They were both born in Prussia in the mid-1800s–Joseph in February, 1855 and Eva in December, 1857.

Joseph’s parents were Joseph Plenzler and Mary Lesiecka.

I have found reference to Eva’s father as John Dauer on Eva’s death certificate. However, research into baptismal records for some of Eva’s and Joseph’s children have indicated her father was named Andreas. I am investigating this and have found a marriage abstract for Andreas/Andrzej Dauer and Marianna Aumiller in the Catholic parish in Głuszyna dated 1856. Eva and Joseph were also married in the Catholic parish in Głuszyna.

Per the 1900 census, Joseph arrived in 1883, Eva arrived in 1884. Joseph departed their residence in Wioreck, Preußen (Germany) on April 13, 1883 via the ship Gainsborough from Hamburg, arriving in Liverpool and then in the US. (Record 4 in the manifest.)

Eva arrived on the ship, Moravia, in the port of New York on May 6, 1884. She departed from Hamburg with her two eldest sons: Marczin (Martin) and Josef (Joseph). Martin was 3 at the time of arrival, his younger brother was just 6 months. (Lines 11, 12, and 13 in the manifest.)

By the time of the 1900 census, Joe Sr. was a naturalized citizen and a home plasterer. Eva and Joseph resided at 1541 Avondale Avenue, near Detroit Street. By this time, they had 10 children, nine of whom survived:

Pretty amazing that Eva and Joe had nine children survive out of 10, given that cholera, “consumption” (tuberculosis), typhoid, and pneumonia were often fatal to children in the late 1800s and were fairly common in Toledo at that time.